In many ways, MIDTONES is about chances. Meetings between bandmates, music and lyrics coming together. Them as a collective, being able to present what they do in this time and age. Strip the philosophy out of it, and there’s still music that nudges the deepest part of your soul to ask you something, if not just tell you how they feel. For music that moves like the river, here they come with their 3rd LP, Mountain.
The gentle opening of Mountain has the title track as a ballad with just piano notes and vocals. Percussions hold back till the poetry settles into your skin. Chord progressions don’t shift like time but rather like the tide. It is a gentle and generous composition that allows the music to breathe. It’s extremely impressive that the band has developed a chemistry that allows the idea of the song to shine through more than anything else. Nothing gets the spotlight, and they all bask in the warm limelight of their fantastic music.
If that was what the opening song spoke about, an indie rock gem Won’t Be Long Now, comes in next. You can almost imagine the crowd singing it – the opening riff and the vocal part. If the lead guitar is playing, it sounds like Ric Ocasek and Elliot Easton trading notes like The Cars in their exemplary albums. The notes belong to the song, not like an advertisement for the guitar.
Check out > Lollapalooza 2026: Yungblud & Linkin Park put India under Global Radar with Packed Arenas
I love how MIDTONES is able to trade energies to sound like a whole other band in an instant. They bring in rich background elements when a song like Simulations plays. It becomes a collective conversation about memories, instances and parts of tunes which sound affected – something only human music can do.
When the vocals sound like Gilmour expressing his deepest crevice of thought in Here We Go Again, you lean in to listen. The tones on this song were my favourite, not because it’s been mastered differently, but because of how each instrument presents itself for this one. The pacing of the song – with the instruments contributing to the narrative is what stuck with me.
The way each instrument changes the aural depth of the composition was great. It’s presented best in All My Days, where the guitar rings out splendidly in the verse section. Vocals carry a lot of the songs, with more textural songs like Lockstep exploring different grooves. There’s that mystery of the song brought out with the lead guitar choosing the right ambience of notes.
MIDTONES show us that the most memorable music doesn’t have to be complex. Sometimes all it takes is to set the environment to vibrate with the same energy and vigour you have for life. They take you to the peak with this music and leave you at the valley to think. In the end, you stand far enough, to appreciate the mountain for what it was:
Check out our playlists here!
Check out our YouTube channel for music reviews, playlists, podcasts, and more!
Disclaimer: This release was brought to you by a promotional campaign by the artist, PR, or management label
